


Back on the Homefront

by Meatball42



Series: Rare Pairs [163]
Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game)
Genre: Episode Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25225999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/pseuds/Meatball42
Summary: Steve is not as recovered as he seems.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Series: Rare Pairs [163]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/365729
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17
Collections: Juletide 2020





	Back on the Homefront

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flipflop_diva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/gifts).



> This story is set during the Monsters Unleashed Event, and specifically relates to Steve's Gladiator costume storyline, [as seen here.](https://imgur.com/a/CNRQ0)

Something smashed in the courtyard, and Natasha woke up with a jolt.

She sat straight up in bed, her hand wrapped around a pistol. On her left, Bucky was sitting up as well, his metal arm already raised defensively. On her right, Steve was already out of bed and racing to the window.

“Sorry!” called a familiar voice from the ground below. “I’m okay! Everything’s okay!... Well mostly okay, but you can go back to sleep!”

“Shut up!” someone called from the Maverick Dorm.

Natasha put her pistol back under her pillow and rolled her eyes. She lay back down, twitching a little when Bucky’s cold arm came around her and brushed some exposed skin at her hip.

Already heading back toward sleep, it was Bucky’s tension that made her look back to the window.

Steve was bent over, hands braced on the windowsill. The moonlight traced the shape of his body, highlighting the ways it had changed. While she and Bucky hadn’t even had time to realize Steve was gone, years had passed for him in the gladiatorial world where Pym had sent him to train, and it showed.

His years of fighting stripped away what semblance of a fat layer Steve had ever had from his body, and the bulk of his muscles had shifted. Natasha’s trained eye told her that the next time they sparred, she could expect him to be improved in wrestling and explosiveness, even above the skills he’d already possessed.

But she didn’t expect to spar with him any time soon.

Steve’s shoulders shook and his newly long hair was hanging around his face, tangled from the pillow. The windowsill cracked under the pressure of his hands.

Natasha got out of bed as Steve released the sill and straightened, taking quick, shallow breaths.

She called his name quietly before she approached, but he still flinched, and then again when she brushed her hand along his arm.

“I’m okay,” he insisted. “Just. Got startled.”

“Sure.”

She let him try to control his breathing. Eventually he wiped his eyes and turned around, smiling weakly.

Natasha guided him back to bed. Bucky pulled the covers back and she nudged Steve to go first.

“I don’t want to-” Steve stopped at the edge of the mattress. “If I have a nightmare-”

“You’ve been having nightmares,” Natasha said bluntly. “You don’t move.”

She couldn’t see Steve’s face, but she could see Bucky’s. His emotions were locked down like they were when he went into battle, or when he had to talk about Hydra, or heard bubblegum pop.

“I… I can’t,” Steve whispered. “I can’t be trapped.”

It would be lying to say that it didn’t hurt to hear. That Steve could ever think Natasha or Bucky could hurt him, outside of mind-control situations. But Natasha was an accomplished liar, and her feelings weren’t important right now.

“That’s okay,” she said evenly. She got into bed and back into Bucky’s arms, making room for Steve on the end.

Still, Steve hesitated.

“To sleep, perchance to dream,” Bucky murmured, and Steve flinched.

“You’re not there anymore,” Natasha said firmly. “You’re back home. It will take time to get used to it. But the only way out is through.”

Tough love was usually what worked best for Steve. But tonight, instead of rising to the challenge in her words, he shrank back.

“I’d rather… I’ll do a sweep of the perimeter,” he said weakly. “Fin Fang Foom’s forces are still out there.”

Natasha met Bucky’s eyes, and without saying a word, they both got up.

“You don’t have to-” Steve argued.

“If you’ve got a fight, we’ve got a fight,” Bucky said.

“If you’re going, we’re going,” Natasha agreed.

For the second time that night, Steve’s head fell forward and he started to shake. Natasha and Bucky approached to hug him from both sides.

After a long time, they made their way to bed, and didn’t wake up again until morning.


End file.
